A man has been arrested after a car crashed into the gates of Downing Street, where the British Prime Minister lives

LONDON — A car crashed into the gates of Downing Street in central London, home and office of the British prime minister, on Thursday, prompting rapid security measures at one of London’s most fortified locations.

According to the information of the Metropolitan Police Headquarters, a man was arrested at the scene on Thursday afternoon, who is suspected of damage and dangerous driving. No injuries were reported.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was in his office at the time.

Video footage posted on social media shows a silver hatchback heading straight for the gate at low speed through Whitehall, the main thoroughfare in London’s government district.

The footage taken shortly afterwards shows a car with its trunk leaning against the tall metal gates. Several police officers searched the vehicle meticulously, took items from the trunk and inside the car, and placed them in evidence bags.

It was not immediately clear whether the accident was intentional. Police said they are working to investigate the circumstances.

“I heard a bang and looked up to see loads of police officers shouting at the man with tasers,” said witness Simon Parry, 44. “Many police vehicles arrived very quickly and evacuated the area very quickly.”

The BBC showed a photograph showing officers leading away a man with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Police cordoned off a wide area after the crash, but within half an hour they had begun lifting the barriers, allowing people back into Whitehall, which is usually thronged with civil servants and tourists eager to see the nearby Houses of Parliament and other historic buildings.

Downing Street is a narrow street lined with Georgian houses, including the Prime Minister’s official residence at number 10.

Public access to the street is restricted, and the heavy steel gates are constantly guarded by armed police. Concrete posts and metal mass barriers also help keep threats at bay.

The gates were erected in 1989 in response to threats by Irish Republican Army militants. In 1991, the IRA fired three mortars into the street, one of which exploded in the backyard of Number 10 while Prime Minister John Major was chairing a cabinet meeting inside. Three policemen and a civil servant suffered minor injuries.

The area was targeted in 2017 when an Islamic State-inspired extremist killed four people with a vehicle on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death outside Parliament.